In 2006 T. Logan Fleck enters his 11th season as head women's soccer coach at the University of South Florida. In that time, Fleck has transformed the women's soccer program from one that competed on the club level in 1994 to one that competes with some of America's finest at the NCAA Division I level.
In 1995, Fleck led a non-scholarship women's team to varsity status and an 11-3-0 record. The schedule that season was generally comprised of teams competing at the NCAA and NAIA Division II levels, but three victories over two NCAA Division I programs indicated that Fleck's program would be one to watch.
Eleven seasons later, Fleck's overall record stands at 80-80-17 and the team plays in one of the most elite conferences in the nation - the BIG EAST.
Welcome to the BIG EAST
In 2005 the Bulls began their first campaign in the BIG EAST. After their 0-5-3 start, USF picked up their first BIG EAST win in the ninth conference game of the season when Megan Morton scored her first two goals of the year and Katie Reed picked up the third in the 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Bulls earned their second win in conference play over the Red Storm of St. John's in a thrilling 3-2 double-overtime game held in Tampa. USF ended conference play with a 2-6-3 season.
Senior midfielder Jenny Mulvihill highlighted the third week of the season as a selection for both the BIG EAST Player of the Week and garnered Soccer America National Team of the Week honors. Following the season, 22 Bulls earned BIG EAST Academic All-Star awards, each collecting at least a 3.0 GPA while participating in intercollegiate athletics.
Before the BIG EAST
After falling to a 6-11-1 overall record that included a 2-7-0 mark in their first season of Conference USA competition in 1996, the Bulls put together three consecutive winning seasons. USF was 10-6-1 overall and moved into the middle of the C-USA race with a 4-4-1 league record in 1997. Fleck's 1998 team posted an undefeated regular season and won the C-USA regular-season title with a 9-0-2 record. Overall, the Bulls were 15-1-3 in 1998 - the only blemish was a 2-1 loss to Marquette in the C-USA tournament. The team was disappointed not to have received an NCAA bid for their efforts in 1998.
The 1999 campaign saw USF step up its schedule while turning in a respectable 11-8 record. In 2000, the Bulls turned in a 6-9-1 record, having played a challenging schedule that included in-state rivals Florida State and 1998 NCAA Division I National Champion Florida. After slipping to 4-13-2 in 2001, Fleck's 2002 team bounced back to an 8-8-2 record, beating conference rivals Memphis, Houston, Southern Miss and UAB. The 2003 team finished 8-8-2, but posted a record of 6-3-1 against their C-USA foes. In their last year in C-USA the Bulls recorded a 5-9-2 season, going 4-6-0 in Conference USA. Fleck posted an 84-76-14 record during his 10 years in C-USA.
Twenty-two of Fleck's Bulls have earned All-Conference USA honors since 1996. USF placed seven players on all-conference teams in 1998, including first team selections Kristine Edner, Tia Opliger and Janeen Sobush. The burgeoning program produced its first C-USA individual award winner in 1998 when Tia Opliger was named C-USA Freshman of the Year. Fleck was rewarded as well as his league peers selected him C-USA Coach of the Year. His 2003 team continued to receive conference honors. Breck Bankester not only was named the C-USA Co-Defensive Player of the Year, but also was named to the all-tournament team and to the All-Conference USA First Team. In addition, Katie Reed was named first team all-conference, Stacci Sastre received third team honors and Jenny Mulvihill was named the player of the week in offense on Oct. 27.
